Frontal Assessment Battery is a marker of dorsolateral and medial frontal functions: A SPECT study in frontotemporal dementia.
The objective of this study is to identify the cerebral regions that are assessed by the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). Using SPM voxel-based analysis, we looked for correlations between FAB performance and brain SPECT perfusion in 47 patients with the frontal variant of frontotemporal dementia (fv-FTD) recruited by the French FTD research network, a multicentre initiative of French University hospitals with expertise in the field of dementia. A significant correlation was found between FAB performance and perfusion in the medial and dorsolateral frontal cortex bilaterally, independently of age, gender and MMSE. No correlations were observed with orbital frontal or parietal perfusion, in spite of the presence of hypoperfusion in these areas, or with perfusion of any other cortical or subcortical region. These findings confirm that the FAB is an adequate tool for assessing functions related to the dorsolateral and medial frontal cortex, and is thus useful for the evaluation of diseases associated with frontal dysfunction.
Guedj
Eric
E
Service Central de Biophysique et Médecine Nucléaire, Hôpital de la Timone, APHM, Marseille, France. eric.guedj@univmed.fr
Allali
Gilles
G
Goetz
Celine
C
Le Ber
Isabelle
I
Volteau
Magali
M
Lacomblez
Lucette
L
Vera
Pierre
P
Hitzel
Anne
A
Hannequin
Didier
D
Decousus
Marielle
M
Thomas-Antérion
Catherine
C
Magne
Christine
C
Vercelletto
Martine
M
Bernard
Anne-Marie
AM
Didic
Mira
M
Lotterie
Jean-Albert
JA
Puel
Michèle
M
Brice
Alexis
A
Habert
Marie-Odile
MO
Dubois
Bruno
B
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003704:Dementia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon